PERENNIAL FORAGE GRASSES 



Redtop flowers four to six weeks or even eight weeks later 

 than Kentucky blue grass, and is therefore less likely in the 

 field to be confused with the latter than with fowl meadow 

 grass (Poa flava L.), which flowers at the same time as redtop. 

 (71) Redtop seed is sold in the chaff namely, with its 

 relatively large outer glumes, when a bushel weighs about 12 

 pounds; or re-cleaned that is, 

 with the outer glumes removed, 

 when it weighs about 35 

 pounds to the bushel. A pound 

 of re-cleaned seed is equiva- 

 lent to four or more pounds in 

 the chaff. 



The grain is 0.04 inch in 

 length enclosed in flowering 

 glume about one-half longer, 

 giving a silvery appearance to 

 the seed. The number of re- 

 cleaned seeds per pound is 

 variously reported : Illinois Seedg rf ^^ and Abpecurus ^ im _ 



Station, 1 4,135,900; North Car- purities. 1. Redtop (Agrostis alba)\ 2. 



olina Station/ 6,400,000; Law- Z^T** 



Son, 3 A alba var. Stolonifera, John's-wort (Hypericum canadense)\ 5. 



A j 



8,000,000, A. vulgans, 7, 



meadow foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis); 6. 



slender foxtail M/ . a ^^ ); 7 . creeping 



OOO. Redtop seed is not usually soft grass (ffolcus mollis)the small fig- 



ures natural siz 



(ter Hicks) 



adulterated, the most common 



foreign seed being timothy. 



Seeds of slender rush (Juncus tennis Willd.) and sorrel 



(Rumex acetosella L.) occasionally occur. The standard of 



germination is 85 per cent. Commercial seed is not infre- 



quently below this standard. The amount of seed to sow per 



1 Illinois Sta. Bui. No. 3 (1888), p. 33. 



2 North Carolina Sta. Bui. No. 73 (1890). 



3 Agrostographia, Sixth ed., p. 40. 



